Arlington County is no longer trying to take a home on Columbia Pike by eminent domain.
The effort — part of a planned road safety project — sparked a controversy that led to criticism from the family of the elderly, disabled homeowner, as well as from the local NAACP and several candidates for County Board.
The county says it will now negotiate easements for use of part of the property at 1802 Columbia Pike.
“Last week, the Board directed county staff not to acquire the home by eminent domain but to negotiate the purchase of two easements from the conservator,” County Board spokesman David Barrera told ARLnow today. “The decision was also relayed to the conservator’s lawyer last week.”
News of the change in strategy comes as the NAACP Arlington Branch sent a letter to top county officials, calling for them to “stop and rethink the taking of 1802 Columbia Pike.”
“We… urge the County to consider alternative designs for streetscape improvements that would not require taking the home but would still accomplish the County’s safety goals,” the NAACP letter said.
More from the letter:
The house at 1802 Columbia Pike was built 1929, decades after the closure of Freedman’s Village forced Black residents to relocate to other areas of Arlington. One of those areas was Johnson’s Hill, now known as Arlington View, an historically Black neighborhood that includes 1802 Columbia Pike.
The property is owned by Karen Newman, a Black resident of Arlington who grew up in the house and inherited it when her parents died. Ms. Newman’s cousin, Sandra Fortson, has become her conservator, working diligently to renovate the home and make it available to Black households in the future.
The letter added that the $627,000 offered for the house was “an insultingly low sum” from a “low-ball appraiser.” The county’s offer did not account for “‘appraisal bias,’ which unfairly disadvantages Black homeowners in predominantly Black neighborhoods.”
“The County cannot claim to be fighting the monster of systemic racism while continuing to feed
it,” the NAACP wrote.
Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey, in an email response to community members expressing concern about the eminent domain effort, said the Board “understands and respects Ms. Forston’s advocacy.”
“The project at the center of this issue has long been requested by the Arlington View community to provide a safer intersection and another signalized route out of their neighborhood. Realigning this intersection would have improved access for the adjacent neighborhoods, increase safe connectivity for people walking and biking, and create a more predictable intersection of Rolfe Street and Columbia Pike,” Garvey wrote.
“These improvements cannot be achieved without using at least some of the property this home sits on,” Garvey’s email continued. “However, the County Board heard testimony from the property’s conservator, and others, and therefore decided not to pursue eminent domain to acquire the home. Under the circumstances, the County will instead pursue negotiations to purchase two easements from the conservator and continue to work on the Multimodal Project to improve this intersection as much as it can.”
